Monster Brawl (2011)

How do you review a film like Monster Brawl? We’re not even convinced that it qualifies as a film to be entirely honest. The concept is a bizarre one, combining the silliness of the world of wrestling with some of the most famous monsters of all time and mashing them together into the running time. There’s no story of note whatsoever.

Featuring two sets of monsters – the undead and creatures – which are then split into two weight divisions, the fighters meet up in the ring for literal pay-per-view death-matches. The monsters are Frankenstein (we know, it’s supposed to be Frankenstein’s Monster), Werewolf, Mummy, Lady Vampire, Cyclops, Witch Bitch, Zombie Man and Swamp Gut. Who wins is of little significance here, as the director – on a reported budget of only $200,000 Canadian – has created a love letter to 80s wrestling and 80s monster movies. The production and makeup is impressive enough and there’s even an attempt at a mini backstory to each monster before they take to the ring.

The film almost lampoons the over–the-top insanity of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and even features Lance Henrikson as the voice of God, who makes comments before the fights as well as one-word mentions just as if you were playing a fighting game on your console. Like we said, it’s difficult to review this compared to the usual films we look at, but it is quite easy to say that if you don’t like wrestling or the old MTV series Celebrity Deathmatch or brash Americana, then you’ll detest this and find it all absolutely abhorrent.

However, if you possess even a passing interest in any of the above, a group of friends with similar interests and enough alcohol, then this will seem like the dream project which you’ve probably been waiting for since you were 12. There are even starring roles for some (in)famous names from the world of wrestling. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you!

JD GILLAM

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